Bein Harim - Israel Tours

A relaxing morning in Neve Tzedek, a fashionable Tel Aviv district Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #telaviv #israel #nevetzedek #beinharimtours

In July Peltophorum dubium (also known as horsebush) is blossoming. It is often planted in Israel because of its broad shade and its spectacular flowering in the summer. Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #israeliflora #israelitrees #israel #beinharimtours

The most renowned of Jerusalem’s spooky buildings is Eini House at 111 Agrippas Street. Any business opening there will fail, the city legend says, doomed by a curse placed five decades ago by Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, head of a kabbalist house of study. Sharabi was angered when the building, then under construction, rose to the height where it blocked out the rising sun, thus preventing him from saying his morning prayers on time. Source: www.israel21c.org #jerusalem #jerusalemcitylegends #111AgrippasStreet #beinharimtours #israel

The Jerusalem railway station was part of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway until its closure in 1998. When it was in operation it was also known as the Khan station for the old caravanserai building, now the Khan Theater, located across the road. The station opened in 1892 as a terminus of the Jaffa–Jerusalem line, at the 86.6 kilometer mark and an elevation of 787 metres. It was built along the "donkeys' trail", an ancient route ascending to Jerusalem which passed through Nahal Sorek and the Valley of Rephaim. The station was inaugurated on 26 September 1892 in the presence of the city's dignitaries, Jews and Arabs. Among those present at the ceremony was Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the reviver of the Hebrew language, which gave the train the literal name of – horse of the steel in Hebrew as the word "Rakevet" had not yet been created. After its closure in 1998 the station lay neglected for many years, although the railway yard was used for annual events such as Hebrew Book Week. After undergoing an extensive restoration, it reopened as a culture and entertainment center in May 2013. Source: Wikipedia #Jerusalem #Jerusalemrailwaystation #BenYehuda #beinharimtours #Israel #israelihistory #Hebrew

Yardenit Baptismal site is located along the Jordan River in the Galilee region of northern Israel, which is frequented by Christian pilgrims. The site is located south of the river's outlet from the Sea of Galilee, near Kibbutz Kvutzat Kinneret, which owns and manages the site. The Yardenit Baptismal Site currently averages 400,000 visitors a year and attracts members of all faiths. Source: Wikipedia Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #yardenit #baptismalsite #jordanriver #israel #beinharimtours

The Jewish menorah on one of the capitals used in the fifth/sixth century synagogue at Capernaum. Below it are typical Corinthian acanthus leaves. Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #capernaum #beinharimtours #seaofgalileetour

Capernaum is a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other. A house turned into a church by the Byzantines is said to be the home of Saint Peter. Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #Capernaum #Kineret #beinharimtours #beinharim

Mary’s Well is reputed to be located at the site in Nazareth where, according to the Catholic tradition, Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, mother of Jesus and announced that she would bear the Son of God – an event known as the Annunciation. Found just below the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in modern-day Nazareth, the well was positioned over an underground spring that served for centuries as a local watering hole for the Palestinian villagers. Source: Wikipedia #MarysWell #Nazareth #beinharimtours #israel #christiantoursinisrael

A view of the Dead Sea from a cave at Qumran in which some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Source: Wikipedia #deadseascrolls #QumranCavesScrolls #Qumran #deadsea #israel #beinharimtours

Sinkholes continue to open at the Dead Sea area, as a result of the shrinking of the sea, causing infrastructure damage. Studies of the sinkholes show there’s nothing that can be done to prevent them. Nevertheless the Geological Survey of Israel – the agency that does the scientific monitoring of the Dead Sea – sees the sinkholes as having their own tourism potential: scientists suggest opening safe hiking and guiding routes in the sinkhole areas, which will make this unique natural phenomenon accessible to the public. "These paths can be combined with tours along the new beaches of the Dead Sea that reveal a rich variety of crystallization phenomena and salt masses, and tours in the riverbeds that are getting deeper with the dropping sea level, exposing layers thousands of years old that reveal fascinating geological, archaeological, climatic and seismological history,” they say. Source: www.haaretz.com #sinkholesatthedeadsea #thedeadsea #beinharimtours #israel #sinkholes

Masada window view Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #beinharim #beinharimtours #masadaanddeadseatour #thedeadsea #masada #israel

Yesterday on the way to Masada with our knowledgeable, funny and caring guide Omri Yavin we saw ibexes. Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #beinharim #masadaanddeadseatour #masada #deadsea #beinharimtours #beinharimguides #israel #toursinisrael #ibexesinisrael

With a birth rate amongst the highest in the world, the Israeli Bedouin population has grown tenfold since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Today the Bedouin are almost three percent of the population of Israel, but in the stark Negev desert Bedouin make up one out of every four residents. Most of the Bedouin in the Negev hail from the Hejaz, a region in the north of the Arabian peninsula from where they migrated between the 14th and 18th centuries, making them relatively recent arrivals in this ancient land. Historically, the Bedouin have been nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes, traveling to grazing pastures while allowing other areas to naturally replenish. Photo: Bedouin Woman c. 1900 Source: www.myjewishlearning.com #bedouins #israel #Negev #beinharimtours

Figs are one of the 7 species that are noted in the Hebrew Bible as being one of the special agricultural fruits of Israel. The fig tree is also mentioned after the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as Adam and Eve, used the leaves from the Fig Tree to make garments for themselves to hide their naked bodies in Genesis. Native to the Middle East, fig trees are grown all over Israel, thriving in the temperate climate. The sweet, delicate fig is full of vitamins, minerals and natural dietary fibre and are eaten both fresh, picked from a tree and dried. Source:.www.israelgoodfoodguide.com Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #figs #israel #israelifruit #beinharimtours

The newly excavated and reconstructed Byzantine-era Beit Knesset at Golan Heights, the Ein Keshatot synagogue, with its ornately carved basalt Torah ark, was built in the 1st century but extensively renovated some 500 years later. The building, which collapsed in the earthquake of 749 CE, measured 18 meters long by 13 meters wide, and is calculated to have been 12 meters high. Photo courtesy of Jenny Ehrlich Source: www.jpost.com #golans #golanheights #synagoguesinisrael #einkeshatot #beinharimtours

Pecans are tall trees (up to 50 m.) of North America provenance.The pecan is one of the fattiest of nuts, at nearly 70 percent fat, second only to macadamia nuts. Preparing salted pecans for a snack is really simple. Candied pecans are a quick and easy way to make sweet glazed pecans for salads, snacking, food gifts, and more! Israel had about 600 hectares planted to pecans in the year 2000. Source: Wikipedia Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #pecansinisrael #pecan #beinharimtours

Gorgeous Israeli magnolia Photo credit: Dmitry Mishin #israelivegetation #israeltrees #israel #blossomingmagnolia #beinharimtours

A cave believed to have been the cave of John the Baptist was discovered during archaeological excavations in the area of the kibbutz Tzova orchards, not far from Ein Karem, St. John's traditional birthplace. In the 4th and 5th century CE, the cave was sanctified and used by Byzantine monks as a Christian holy place. On its walls are some of the earliest drawings known in local Christian art. Structures outside the cave date to the Hellenistic period (2nd century BCE) and indicate that the cave was used as both a water reservoir and a place for bathing. Water was collected from the valley and channeled into the cave via a water-filtering basin. A sluice allowed some of the water to be channeled from the filtering basin into the fields. Archaeologists discovered a flight of 7 steps leading to an underground, man-made rectangular pool of water. Thousands of pottery shards, possibly the remnants of small water jugs used in the baptismal ritual, were found at the site. Source: Wikipedia #caveofJohntheBaptist #tzova #Tzuba #israel #beinharimtours